The now fully official Author’s Hangout Halloween 2025 competition support thread

[EmilyMiller]

Wood was shocking and hysterical. I loved it.

She’s obsessed with her own thighs - not the first time she’s written about them.

 

[WittyUserName]

She’s obsessed with her own thighs - not the first time she’s written about them.

In her defense, they are very nice.

I made a spoof version of Taylor for my stories: Alison Tey.

 

[Actingup]

She’s obsessed with her own thighs - not the first time she’s written about them.

I didn’t think Wood was primarily about her anatomy…

 

[MillieDynamite]

Merry Fucking Halloween, contestants. All the ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves, mummies, and serial killers say hey, y'all!

 

[dream_yahoozie]

Merry Fucking Halloween, contestants. All the ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves, mummies, and serial killers say hey, y'all!

Hey y'all!

Now we play the game of guessing what trope/monster we all are

 

[Ian_Snow]

Hey y'all!

Now we play the game of guessing what trope/monster we all are

There's no question in my case. I'm the rock-eating giant from Neverending Story 2.

 

[Voboy]

I’ve not been looking, it would take the mother of all sweeps to raise my one bomb battered little story even to H territory.

#Relatable

 

[Voboy]

It is a great story. I remember commenting on it. Anyone who enjoys a good vampire tale should check it out.

I was super-happy how it came together. It started with an article about an evaporated European lake and the idea of a severed head bouncing across the mudflats.

Who knows how imagination works sometimes?

 

[Actingup]

No sweeps yet. A snapshot of a comparison between today's stats and yesterday's for a couple of stories (the second one is my most recent). The drop in 'Reading Lists' count is presumably people moving it off their 'Read Later' list.

Again, this is mainly for newbies - if there are sweeps happening, you tend to see votes being lost from your most recent stories, particularly if they've been posted in a feisty category.

(Edit - incidentally, this is also a good way to track the ripple effect of new stories. My latest is in Loving Wives, and I can see that my other Loving Wives stories are getting more attention than usual as a result, including being added to Reading Lists and getting more comments. My other stories have received a smaller uplift in attention, but there are a couple of new fans working their way through them and leaving comments, which is nice).

 

[Trionyx]

Some of my older stories have had a sudden drop in votes, but not the Halloween story. I assume early sweeps are underway.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Thank you - the comments have been lovely, which is reward enough for me

I have had wonderful comments on mine, and yet, it is one of my lowest rated stories. The last three votes have all been one bombs.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I have had wonderful comments on mine, and yet, it is one of my lowest rated stories. The last three votes have all been one bombs.

It’s the end of days. Let’s just hope that the four horsemen are really furries.

 

[StillStunned]

It’s the end of days. Let’s just hope that the four horsemen are really furries.

Wouldn't it be a hoot if the Four Horsemen rode, only to be captured by a random Pokemon hunter?

 

[Soixenta]

With only 12 votes, I am beginning to worry that I might not qualify for winning. Well, and of course the score is only 4.5 stars.

 

[Actingup]

With only 12 votes, I am beginning to worry that I might not qualify for winning. Well, and of course the score is only 4.5 stars.

I've just been reading an old game guide that starts every chapter with an instruction to 'grind, grind, grind'. By which they don't mean unusual and inventive acts with monsters whilst keeping a sword handy, but rather the dull and boring process of building skills and experience until the character doesn't get slaughtered at every encounter with the game equivalent of a garden gnome. I'm afraid that that's what it can feel like with the contests here! Lots of hard work for ambiguous rewards. But then, you get something that clicks with the audience, and it's all a lot more worthwhile. Hang in there!

 

[WeShallUnclench]

View attachment 2574162

No sweeps yet. A snapshot of a comparison between today's stats and yesterday's for a couple of stories (the second one is my most recent). The drop in 'Reading Lists' count is presumably people moving it off their 'Read Later' list.

Again, this is mainly for newbies - if there are sweeps happening, you tend to see votes being lost from your most recent stories, particularly if they've been posted in a feisty category.

(Edit - incidentally, this is also a good way to track the ripple effect of new stories. My latest is in Loving Wives, and I can see that my other Loving Wives stories are getting more attention than usual as a result, including being added to Reading Lists and getting more comments. My other stories have received a smaller uplift in attention, but there are a couple of new fans working their way through them and leaving comments, which is nice).

Okay, I have been meaning to ask - how do you guys get those stats?

 

[WeShallUnclench]

I have had wonderful comments on mine, and yet, it is one of my lowest rated stories. The last three votes have all been one bombs.

On the plus side, 1-bombs don't really mean anything, you can safely substract them. In your case the story is solid enough that logically they have to be fraudulent. At least my (tender-young) contest experience is that sweeps usually eliminate them all, and there is still time.

 

[Soixenta]

I've just been reading an old game guide that starts every chapter with an instruction to 'grind, grind, grind'. By which they don't mean unusual and inventive acts with monsters whilst keeping a sword handy, but rather the dull and boring process of building skills and experience until the character doesn't get slaughtered at every encounter with the game equivalent of a garden gnome. I'm afraid that that's what it can feel like with the contests here! Lots of hard work for ambiguous rewards. But then, you get something that clicks with the audience, and it's all a lot more worthwhile. Hang in there!

Thank you. I suppose I am a little underwhelmed with the response compared with my two previous stories, which were both also contest entries.

Then again, I wilfully ignored the warnings that Erotic Horror was a slow, if not dead, category. I supposed that I might break that trend, as long as I turned up the sex and gore. We live and learn, as they say.

 

[Voboy]

Well, there went a sweep... I think I lost a few less than ten votes. As the kids say, "Six, seven..."

It didn't hit my whole catalog of course, which is a bummer because my Crime and Punishment story is struggling too. But it is what it is.

 

[TheDok]

Agree there was a sweep about 5 mins ago. I lost lost 4 votes

 

[TheLobster]

Okay, I have been meaning to ask - how do you guys get those stats?

Industrial grade OCD.

(Which is to say, refreshing the stories' page way too often).

 

[Trionyx]

The sweep dropped my score. Arrrrgh!

 

[Soixenta]

My score has not changed, nor have the votes. So the 1 that someone gifted me is legitimate, apparently.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Industrial grade OCD.

(Which is to say, refreshing the stories' page way too often).

So the contest stats someone cited earlier (lowest third of contestants in views, etc) were also done manually?

 

[TheLobster]

So the contest stats someone cited earlier (lowest third of contestants in views, etc) were also done manually?

You can find stories by tags and sort the results by views, so I imagine it’s exactly such a search for the “halloween 2025” tag.

It may not catch everything, since the tag is not compulsory, but it’s a good enough approximation.